Where Is Sports Betting Legal? A Guide To All 50 States

Americans love to put a little action on their favorite sports team and states love the extra tax revenue from legal gambling. Currently, there are about 30 states where sports betting is now legal, including 18 that allow online sports wagering. This means more than 100 million Americans can place a legal wager where they live.

On Jan. 8, New York State will launch its much-anticipated mobile sports wagering program. Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel and Rush Street Interactive will launch what will become a $1 billion market (annual gross gaming revenue) and Bally’s, BetMGM, Wynn Interactive, Resorts World and PointsBet are expected to enter the market soon.  

The legalization of sports wagering has spread across the country since 2018, when the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. PASPA had effectively made sports betting illegal except in Nevada and a few other states. After the ban was struck down, states have been allowed to legalize sports betting and launch their own programs. The industry has been on fire and growing rapidly. The market has grown from 19 states to 32 and Washington, D.C. in the last 12 months.    

As legalization continues to spread across the country, more Americans are betting more money than ever before. According to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, U.S. sports betting handle hit at $42.19 billion from January 2021 through October, almost doubled the amount wagers during the same time in 2020. Legal sportsbooks held more than $400 million in October 2021 alone, according to the AGA.

Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, and Wisconsin are in the process of launching their programs. Florida legalized sports betting last year through a gambling compact with the state’s Seminole Tribe—a deal that was slated to bring $2.5 billion in tax revenue to Florida over five years. But a federal judge overturned the deal, ruling that the plan violated the state’s constitution and federal Indian gambling law. The tribe is appealing the ruling and the state’s mobile sports betting market is currently in limbo.

See the map below for where online and in-person sports betting is currently legal in the U.S.